


And the Three Little Words

by Sheeana



Category: The Librarians (TV 2014)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-21
Updated: 2015-06-21
Packaged: 2018-04-05 12:44:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,760
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4180302
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sheeana/pseuds/Sheeana
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Eve and Flynn run into a problem after retrieving a magical artifact.</p>
            </blockquote>





	And the Three Little Words

**Author's Note:**

  * For [merryghoul](https://archiveofourown.org/users/merryghoul/gifts).



"That was fun," said Flynn, and he flashed Eve a winning smile as he clutched the ancient book they'd retrieved close to his chest. They were both breathing heavily, sweating and exhausted and relieved to have gotten away with their heads still firmly attached to their bodies.

"Next time, do you mind _not_ making the ancient magical spirit angry?" Eve snapped back, but she was smiling too. She couldn't help it. This job had its ups and downs, but it was hard not to be satisfied after saving the world and finding a piece of lost magic to add to the Library's collection.

"Whose idea was it to ignore the ancient script warning us not to enter the tomb again?" said Flynn.

"Yours," she said, without hesitation. She shook her head. "Always, always yours."

"Right. That is true. You know, I'm not entirely sure why I asked. So." He hefted the book up in his arms. "Let's put this back where it- Oh." There was an odd note to his voice, at the end. Not quite fear, but definitely uncertainty.

"Oh?" Eve raised her eyebrows as she finally looked up at their surroundings. Her eyes widened slightly. 'Oh' was right. Oh, they weren't actually home. Oh, it was probably a bad sign that they were standing inside a vast cavern instead of the main hall of the Library. Oh, she shouldn't have expected anything else, because this was Flynn she was talking about and, well. "Oh," she said, echoing his tone almost exactly.

"This is great. Just fantastic. Exactly what I wanted to see today!" Flynn turned around and around and took everything in as he muttered to himself. "Door's malfunctioning again. Next time I see Jenkins-"

"Maybe we should think about getting ourselves out of here first, and yelling at Jenkins later," Eve said, maybe a little sharper than necessary to pull him out of the rant she was about to go on. Now was not the time. This was definitely not the place.

"There isn't much to think about. All we need to do is wait for the door to reset. Shouldn't take long. Ten minutes or so? We can survive ten minutes alone in a cave. Librarian and Guardian, saviors of the world - multiple times - I think we can handle it."

" _Why_ did you have to say it?" Eve pressed her hand against her forehead, and she sighed deeply.

"Say what?"

"'Alone.'"

"I don't see anyone else. Empty cave, just the two of us-"

Before he could say another word, a sort of creaking, groaning sound started to come from the book in his hands. Like wood against wood, like a house settling. Well, like the sound that adults told children was the sound of a house settling, but now that Eve had been a Guardian for awhile, now that she'd seen some things, she realized that she might want to start questioning simple explanations like that.

"Maybe you should put the book down and step away from it," she said softly, in the blind hope that magic books were like angry wild animals that could be calmed by giving them space.

"I'm sure it's just-" Flynn broke off into a loud, undignified yelp as the book suddenly came alive in his hands, pages folding into sharp, angular edges - like teeth - and going straight for his face. He barely managed to stay on his feet as he wrestled with it, tried to keep it away and only just succeeding. For now. It didn't seem like the kind of strategy that would work out in the long-term. "This is probably not good, right?" he shouted. "I think it's safe to say this is not good!" 

"I thought you knew everything about magic!" She glanced around for a weapon other than her gun, for something to pry it away without hurting him in the process. The best she could come up with was a medium-sized rock, which wasn't much help against a book.

"A lot of things? Yes. Everything? No."

"I remember you saying everything. You _distinctly_ said everything."

"I did not say everything. You must be misremembering, because-" He stopped talking and tried to give her a disgusted look when he finally noticed that she was just teasing. Not that he'd never said anything like that. She didn't think he could help himself if he tried. "Ow," he complained, when his lapse in attention rewarded him with a tooth-mark - a book-mark? - across his palm. 

Without hesitating, without waiting another second to think it through, she reached over and snatched the book away from him before it could do anymore damage. "Can you read it?" she asked urgently, tightening her hold on it. It didn't seem to have any interest in her, only in him, which probably had something to do with the fact that he was the one who'd taken it from the tomb it had been hidden in for the past thousand years.

"Read the book that's trying to eat me? Yes, Eve, that's a good idea, I'll just do that right now-"

"I don't see you coming up with any other plans!"

He huffed out an annoyed breath, but he tilted his head to the side all the same, tried to read it while she struggled to keep it open and keep it away from him. Easier said than done. "It says… speak… speak the magic words…" he said, frown deepening.

"Do you know the magic words? And not that there's any pressure, but you might want to think quickly," she warned.

"How would I know the magic words?!"

"Well, someone had better know the magic words, because I don't want to be the Guardian whose Librarian was eaten by a book!"

"You wouldn't be the first, if that's any consolation. I can try… I can try…" He started speaking what sounded like Latin, three distinct words at a time, testing phrase by phrase. After awhile he started to switch to other languages, but she didn't know them well enough to distinguish between most of them. She recognized Egyptian from the last time an artifact had come to life and Flynn had shouted at it, at least, and she thought she heard a few French words in there, too.

"No luck?" she said, when he finally closed his mouth and just stood there, looking perplexed.

"New kind of magic?" He had to duck when she momentarily lost her grip on the book. "No, that doesn't make sense. Really old kind of magic that I've never heard of before. Guess we just have to wait and see if it runs out of power eventually."

"Oh, for- _Stop. It. Now_ ," Eve demanded, practically growled at the book. She was frustrated enough to actually believe it might work, just for a second.

It stopped.

Flynn stared at the book, and for a rare few, precious seconds he was utterly speechless. It didn't last very long. "… Stop it now?" he said finally, weakly. "The magic words are 'stop it now'? Remind me. Why do we even _need_ Librarians? I could just get anyone to do my job for me. It would save me so much trouble. They wouldn't even need any training. Also, have I ever told you that I love you?"

"No," Eve said, blinking. She gripped the now inert and silent magic book and swallowed before she spoke again. "No, actually, you have not."

"Well, you know what they say. There's a first time for everything."

For a moment, Eve didn't know what to say, and all she could do was stare at him and try not to let a confusing mix of mostly pleasant feelings show on her face. It didn't make sense for him to say it right now, right here, like this, but then again - _he_ didn't make sense. "You're hurt," she finally settled on saying aloud.

He held up his hand and examined it. "Just a scratch. When we get back to the Library I can put something on it. Be good as new in five minutes."

"Sit down," Eve said sternly. She pointed at a large, flat rock with edges that looked smooth enough not to scratch him up even more.

Almost meekly – if such a thing were even possible for Flynn Carsen – he sat down. Eve took his arm by the wrist and made him hold his palm flat, so she could get a better look at the cut. Rationally she knew that he probably had some magical salve that would heal it in an instant, or there was a set of magic words that were far more eloquent than hers. Still, just in case he happened to fall into a portal and get lost for a few weeks (which wasn't even that far down the list of unbelievable things that might happen when he was involved), she dug around until she found something to clean and bandage it in the little first aid kit she always brought with her. It had seen a lot less mileage since she started working for a magical Library.

"Thank you," Flynn said politely when she was done, instead of what she imagined were the many other things he wanted to say, most of them not very polite. He was still getting used to letting someone help him. She was still getting used to being patient with him. They were a work in progress.

"You're welcome," she said. "Now-"

"Now I'm going to take you out to dinner," Flynn said brightly, as he tested his newly-bandaged palm with his fingertip. "I know a great place in Rome. Funny story about how I found it; I was looking for a lost pendant, and while I was fighting off a vampire- You know what, I'll tell you on the way. As soon as we get the door working again. It's probably better if we don't end up somewhere even worse than here."

"Evil magic books and dinner dates," she muttered under her breath. She didn't know why she bothered anymore. Apparently, nothing was new under the sun. She followed him through the door when it reappeared, into the (relative) safety of the Library.

"What was that?"

"I said, I need to put on some clean clothes before we go anywhere. By the way, so do you." She eyed his sweat-and-dirt-stained shirt and raised her eyebrows.

"I'll go do that, then," he said smoothly, and headed for the stairs. "I'll see you in ten minutes."

"Don't be late, Librarian," she called after him.

"Never dream of it," he replied.


End file.
